Commentary on Hebrews (Commentary on the New Testament Book #15)

Robert H. Gundry

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781441237729
• eBook ISBN:
  9781441237729
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

Delve Deeper into God's Word

In this verse-by-verse commentary, Robert Gundry offers a fresh, literal translation and a reliable exposition of Scripture for today's readers.

The author of Hebrews seeks to establish Christ's preeminence and his replacement of the Mosaic law. This author wishes to turn his audience back to faith in Christ and toward a life of purity.

Pastors, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and laypeople will welcome Gundry's nontechnical explanations and clarifications. And Bible students at all levels will appreciate his sparkling interpretations.

This selection is from Gundry's Commentary on the New Testament.

Hebrews

Hebrews was written anonymously, and neither its contents and style nor early church tradition enables us to guess with confidence who may have written it. The address and greeting that usually introduce an ancient letter are missing from Hebrews, but it closes like an ancient letter (13:18–25). Apart from the traditional title, “To the Hebrews,” several factors favor an original audience consisting at least for the most part of Jewish Christians: (1) warnings not to apostatize as an early generation of Jews did; (2) a presupposition of the recipients’ knowledge of Jewish ritual; and (3) constant appeal to the Old Testament. Whatever his own identity, the author portrays Jesus Christ distinctively as a high priest who, having offered none other than himself as a completely sufficient sacrifice for sins, now ministers in the heavenly sanctuary. The purpose of this portrayal, which emphasizes his superiority to every aspect and hero of Old Testament religion, is to ensure that the letter’s recipients stick true to their Christian faith.

THE SUPERIORITY OF GOD’S SON TO THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS AND TO ANGELS, WITH A WARNING AGAINST APOSTASY
Hebrews 1:1–2:18

1:1–4: After speaking in the prophets long ago to the [fore]fathers in many parts [= bit by bit] and in many ways, 2God has spoken to us at the last—[that is,] during these days—in a son, whom he positioned as the heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages, 3who being the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact imprint of his [God’s] essence and carrying all things by the word of his power, on accomplishing the cleansing of sins, sat down at the right [hand] of the Greatness in the heights 4because of having become much superior to the angels inasmuch as he has inherited a more illustrious name in comparison with them. “The [fore]fathers” means the ancestors of the Jewish Christians addressed in this letter. “Long ago” refers to Old Testament times, when God spoke to their ancestors. “In the prophets” has to do with God’s using the prophets as his spokespersons (compare the use of “prophet” for Aaron as Moses’ spokesman [Exodus 7:1 with 4:14–16; 16:9]). “In many parts [= bit by bit] and in many ways” points up the intermittence and variety of God’s messages spoken through the prophets. There’s little difference in meaning between these phrases, but the author uses the two of them to highlight a qualitative contrast with the singularity of God’s having spoken in a son. For a son can convey his father’s speech more definitively than an unrelated spokesperson can. Adding to the qualitative contrast are both a contrast in addressees between “to us” and “to the [fore]fathers,” so that God has spoken to us directly (we’re not limited to figuring out how what he said to them applies to us), and a temporal contrast between “at the last—[that is,] during these days” and “long ago.” “These days” are “the last” in that God’s having spoken in a son constitutes his final word, so that we dare not neglect it.

Sonship entails heirship. Therefore the author supplements the son’s communicative superiority to the prophets with the superiority of God’s having put his son in the position of an heir, such as the prophets were not. “Of all things” grows out of God’s having created and thereby owning all that exists, and thus maximizes the son’s inheritance. The background of creation then leads the author to pronounce the son God’s agent in creation: “through whom also [in addition to positioning him as heir] he made the ages.” “All things” referred to the physical universe. “The ages” refers to the eras of time in which the universe exists; and to link up with the temporal contrast between “long ago” and “at the last—[that is,] during these days,” the author refers to these eras rather than repeating “all things.”[1]

To sonship, heirship, and agency in creation the author adds the son’s being “the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact imprint [on human flesh (compare 2:14)] of his [God’s] essence.” In other words, the son is deity in human form, as the prophets were not, so that from now on we’ll usually capitalize “Son.” As deity, the Son is “carrying all things,” that is, sustaining the universe of which he’s the heir. “By the word of his power” means “by the Son’s powerful word.” Now he, the Son rather than God, is speaking; and the power with which he speaks is his own. As God has spoken communicatively, then, the Son is speaking sustainingly and therefore even more powerfully than God spoke in the prophets (but compare God’s speaking the universe into existence in Genesis 1; also John 1:1–3).

More than anything the prophets did, the Son “accomplished the cleansing of sins” (in the sense of washing them away) and “sat down at the right [hand] of the Greatness in the heights” (compare Psalm 110:1). Sitting there links with the Son’s heirship and codeity with God and connotes rulership, because rulers sit on a throne. The right hand represents favor (see, for example, Genesis 48:8–22; Matthew 25:31–46), such as suits God’s having positioned the Son to be the heir of all things. The author calls heaven “the heights” to stress the height to which God has exalted the Son, and he calls God “the Greatness” to stress the Son’s corresponding greatness in that he sits enthroned beside God. But the mention of enthronement in heaven’s heights leads to the thought of angels, who also inhabit heaven. So the author shifts to the Son’s superiority even to them as well as to the prophets. The Son became “much superior to the angels inasmuch as he has inherited a more illustrious name in comparison with them.” Earlier he was said to have been made “the heir of all things.” Now he’s said to have “inherited a . . . name.” A double inheritance, then! The inherited name is “Son,” as the next verse will indicate; and that’s “a more illustrious name” than “angels.” Hence “name” denotes a species and has the sense of “designation” rather than referring to a personal name or even a title. The author doesn’t say here who the Son is. Saving the identification till 2:9 will make for a climax.

Next, the author starts supporting with Scripture his assertion of the Son’s superiority to angels. 1:5–6: For to which of the angels did he [God] ever say, “You’re my Son; today I’ve fathered you [Psalm 2:7]”? And again [to which of the angels did God ever say], “He’ll have me as [his] Father, and I’ll have him as [my] Son [2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:13]”? 6And when he [God] brings [his] firstborn again into the inhabited [earth], he says, “And all God’s angels are to worship him [the firstborn] [Deuteronomy 32:43; Psalm 97:7 according to an earlier Greek translation of the standard Hebrew text translated in English versions].” Divine sonship outranks angelhood as well as prophethood. Finally, God’s fatherhood, only implied till now, comes out explicitly. “Fathered” symbolizes that he has positioned the Son at his right hand, as is appropriate for a son and heir. The “today” of fathering probably refers to the time when the Son “sat down at the right [hand] of the Greatness in the heights.” At this point, though, the author isn’t concerned with the time of God’s having fathered the Son so much as with God’s having addressed the Son as quoted, and not having addressed any angel in that way (compare 12:16; Genesis 49:3; Deuteronomy 21:17). The quotations of Psalm 2:7; 2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:13 have to do with David’s royal line, of which the Son is the culmination (compare 7:14). “When he [God] brings [his] firstborn again into the inhabited [earth]” (1) implies the Son’s heavenly origin; (2) refers to the second coming (“again” [compare 9:28]); (3) implies the Son’s preexistence as deity; (4) anticipates God’s having other sons and therefore the Son’s having brothers (see 2:10–12); and (5) ranks the firstborn Son above them.

1:7–9: And on the one hand he [God] says in reference to the angels, “The one who makes his angels winds and [who makes] his attendants a flame of fire [Psalm 104:4, again according to an earlier Greek translation of the Hebrew].” 8On the other hand [he says] in reference to the Son, “Your throne, God, is forever and ever; and a scepter of rectitude [is] the scepter of your reign. 9You’ve loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Because of this, God—your God—has anointed you more than your partners with the olive oil of gladness [Psalm 45:6–7].” In Psalm 104:4 a psalmist refers to God as “the one who makes his angels winds [and so on].” But the author of Hebrews considers the psalmist to be a prophet, or at least like a prophet, and therefore a mouthpiece for what God says. The present tense of “says” gives the following quotation a contemporary relevance. The comparison of angels to winds arises out of the nature of angels as spirits, the Greek as well as Hebrew word for which also means “winds.” The word underlying “attendants” has to do with religious service such as angels perform for God. The contrast with the eternality of the Son’s throne, stressed by the addition of “and ever” to “forever,” makes angels, by comparison, as evanescent as “winds” and “a flame of fire.” To this contrast are added a number of items that demonstrate the superiority of the Son to angels: (1) his throne itself, in that angels have no throne; (2) the affirmation of the Son’s deity by God himself when using “God” to address his Son; (3) God’s attributing to him a reign of rectitude, symbolized by a scepter,[2] and describing him as a lover of righteousness and a hater of lawlessness; and (4) God’s celebration of the Son’s kingship because the Son has loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. “God—your God” highlights the close relation of the Son to his Father. Anointing with olive oil not only had to do with choosing a king. It also had to do with the festivity of a celebration. A host anointed with olive oil the heads of his guests to make their heads shine as a sign of gladness (compare the comments on Matthew 6:17; Luke 7:46). Playing the host, God has anointed his Son, so to speak, with more olive oil than he has used on his other guests and thus has treated his Son as the honored guest. Given the flow of argument, “more than your partners” probably means “more than the angels,” though an anticipation of the Son’s “brothers” (2:10–12) and “partners” (3:14) raises the possibility of another or additional identification with Christians (compare 12:22–23). Psalm 45, part of which the author quotes, dealt originally with a king’s wedding. The author of Hebrews applies it to God’s Son as the ultimate king and again has God speaking through the psalmist as his mouthpiece.

1:10–12: Also [God says], “You at the beginning, Lord, founded the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands. 11They’ll perish; but you’ll last throughout [that is, forever]. And all [the heavens] will age as a garment [ages], 12and you’ll roll them up [for disposal] as if [they were] a cloak. As a garment [is changed] they too will be changed. But you are the same, and your years won’t run out [Psalm 102:25–27].” Again God uses a psalmist as his mouthpiece and speaks relevantly to the present time. Now, though, he addresses his Son with “Lord,” implies the Son’s eternal preexistence by locating him “at the beginning,” and attributes to him the founding of the earth and the creation of the heavens (compare 1:2; John 1:1–3; and Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”). To complement the Son’s eternal preexistence, God draws a contrast between the Son’s eternal future and the perishing of all the heavens. Indeed, the Son himself will dispose of them. “All” means that not a single heavenly body will survive.

1:13–14: But to which of the angels has he [God] ever said, “Sit at my right [hand] till I place your enemies as a footstool for your feet [Psalm 110:1]”? Implied answer: To none of the angels. 14They’re all attendant spirits, aren’t they, being sent for the purpose of service because of those who are going to inherit salvation? Implied answer: Yes. “Sitting” is the characteristic posture of a king on his throne, and God tells his Son to sit at his (God’s) right hand, the hand of favor (see the comments on 1:3), and to sit there till God places his Son’s enemies as a footstool for the Son’s feet. To become a footstool is to suffer defeat and subjugation. By contrast, the angels serve as “attendant spirits,” but they don’t rise above that level. The word for “spirits” is the same as the word for “winds” in 1:7, but translated here in accordance with its other meaning, “spirits,” because of the combination with “attendant” (for which see the comments on 1:7). As attendant spirits the angels are sent to serve “those who are going to inherit salvation,” that is, Christians, who will inherit salvation when God places the enemies of his Son—those who persecute them—as a footstool for the Son’s feet at the second coming. So the salvation will consist in the Christians’ deliverance from persecution. Since the author’s interest lies in demonstrating the Son’s superiority to angels—here in a contrast between the Son’s enthronement and the angels’ servitude—the author doesn’t tell how they serve Christians. But mentioning the Christians’ future inheritance of salvation leads him next to inject a warning not to forfeit that inheritance by apostatizing.

2:1–4: Because of this [the Son’s superiority to angels as well as to the ancient prophets] it’s necessary for us to be taking with utter seriousness the things that were heard, lest we drift away. 2For if the word spoken through angels became firm and every transgression and disobedience got [its] just deserts [as it did], 3how will we escape if we’ve become careless of such a great salvation, which as such, having gotten its start by being spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard [him] 4while God joined in testifying by means of both signs and wonders and various miracles and distributions of the Holy Spirit according to his [God’s] will? Implied answer: There’s no way of escaping if we’re careless, and we’re careless if we lack utter seriousness. Not escaping looks ahead to punishment in hellfire (6:8; 10:26–31; 12:29). Therefore “necessary” means necessary for salvation from such a fate. By including himself with his audience in “for us” the author establishes rapport with them; and they’ll think correctly that if utter seriousness is necessary for his salvation, it must be for theirs too. “T...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Hebrews
• Notes
• Back Cover